Paper fastener



y 1950 J. D. CRARY 39 PAPER FASTENER Filed March 19, 1946 i 2, Sheets-Sheet 1 37 39 Q3 FIG. 4 5a 9 H6. 10

JAY 0 (RA 3Y INVENTOR ATTORNEY y 1, 1950 J. D. CRARY 2,514,939

PAPER FASTENER Filed March 19, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 JAY D. CRARY 7/ INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented July 11, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,514,939 PAPER FASTENER v Jay'D. Crary; Portland, Greg, Application March 19, 1946, Serial No. 655,510;-

I The. present invention. relates to fastening devices. It is particularly concerned with improvements infastening devices commonly known as paper fasteners or prong fasteners.

Although the invention is applicable-to a variety of such devices, it will be described primarily with reference: to certain specific. fastening devices now in common use and which are generally used; to secure-sheets of paperor the like together. or. to a; backing member by means including one or more bendable prongs. In. the use of such fasteners, itfrequently happens that] While the prongs are straightened to; an inoperative; position tor the purpose of adding or removing sheets, the fasteners become disengaged from the backing member or sheets 'anddropl out so that the; entire assembly operation must berepeated. While this annoying displacement of, the. fastener occurs most frequently when the. sheets are mounted on: the

The primary object of thepresent invention is-to provide an improved fastener so constructed that it cannot readily be displaced or lost from attacking member or from the outermost of a -plurality of sheetsmounted thereon.

Another object oftheinvention is: to provide am improved fastener. having means integral with the: prongs relatively: to secure thefastener t'ova backing member threaded thereon;

v 2 is a side elevation, partly insecti'on of the fastener Fig; 3" is a; view similartov Fig. 1 but showing the device a-ppli'e'd to a, backing member which has been pierced by the" prongs to form a slot for'receiving the fastener I Fig-fl is a-view showing. the device as secured toaprevi'ously punched sheet material by means of a slotted; washer cooperatively mounted on theyfastener 2. Claims; (Cl. 24-453) fastener by means of holes previously provided the sheets for this-purpose; it' is also encountered in those-cases where the assembly has been accomplished by puncturing the) sheets with. the pointedends of the, prongs.

oftFig. 13';

Fig. 5: is a plan view ofFi'gA;

Fig. 6 is at side. elevational view and Fig. 'l a front elevation view of a modified form. of the fastener; i

Fig. 8 is a. modified. form of washer for use with the. fasteners oi the present invention;

Figs. 9 and 1-0 are views, each. illustrating additional modifications of. the! fastener of the presentinvention;

Fig. 1111 is, a perspective view showing the present invention as, applied to a, fastener knownas abindjer prong. fastener; v

Fig. 12 is, another modification of a washer for use with, the various fastening devices;

Fig.. 13 is a. perspective view, partly broken of, the slotted washer away, showing. the fastener of Fig. 11 as assembled with. av binder cover Fig. 14 is a sectional view along. line I it-I14 Fig, 151's a :Eastenem v t v Fig. 16' is a sectional view of a binder secured perspectiveview of a single prong by means of the. fastener of Fig; 15;, and

Fig. 17" is a" sectional view along line "+17 of'Fig. 16.

The fastener of the present invention compri'ses a'head portion and one or. more prong or leg portions with one. or more projections provided' on the prong portion adjacent the head of the, fastener the projection. beingdesigned to engage the sheet or sheets threaded onto the fastener between the projection and the head portion, or a suitable washer mounted above such. sheets, thereby to prevent. the accidental .lossor removal of the; fastener during the mounting of" additional sheets or at any other time when the prong or' prongs are straightened to an. inoperative position for the purpose of adding or removing sheets.

In Figs. 1-4 of the drawing; where like reference numerals indicatethesame parts, one type of fastener is shown as generally comprising a strip of metal bent to form a T-shaped head portion II? and a pair of parallel prongs or legs 12. A cap 1'3 may be provided for enclosing or encasing the head; portion H. The prongs or legs ll of this fastener are normally straight and contiguous when the sheets-are being threaded thereon and are thereafter separated and pressed down, into an operative position against the surface of the mounted sheets, for the purpose of, securing the sheets together. Frequently" the ends of" one or both of the prongs 1'2 are tapered or pointed as indicated at IE to facilithe fastener thereto.

tate the piercing of the sheet material to be mounted thereon when a suitable hole for receiving the fastener has not previously been provided in the material.

In accordance with the present invention, one or more projections are provided on the prong portion adjacent the head of the fastener, which projections are preferably in the form of relatively small barbs l5 struck or gouged out of the prong portion with the ends thereof pointing outwardly or towards the head of the fastener. is shown as protruding from each of the side edges of the prongs, all of the projections being substantially the same distance from .thefastener head. These barbs can be formed cutting or gouging into the edges of theprongs with a sharp tool directed away from the head and held at'such an angle with, respect to the side of the prong that the metal adjacent the cut is bent outwardly and away from the edge of the prong in the form of a generally triangular-shaped projection having a shoulder portion 18 facing the head I I.

In the use of the fastener with a backing member such as pressboard or other relatively dense or thick fibrous sheet material, the fastener prongs may be forced through the material to form a slot for receiving the fastener. Ordinarily the resultant slot will only be as long as or only slightly'longer than the width of the prongs, the exact size thereof depending on the ease with which the material gives under the force of the prongs. As the sheet material being mounted is moved along the prongs toward the head of the fastener, it readily slips over the barbs and -against the head portion where, as shown in .Fig. 3, the sheet is becomes operatively engaged by the shoulder portions [8. When so assembled. the fastener will not become disengaged from the sheet l9 under normal handling conditions. Although these projections are relatively small, even in proportion to the width of .the prongs,

.theyhave been found to fulfil effectively their intended purpose primarily because many fibrous materials, such as cardboard, pressboard, etc., are somewhat elastic or resilient in the sense that the fibrous material at the'edge of the slot which has been forced outwardly from the slot as the sheet is pressed downwardly over the projections will spring back. into the slot into operative engagement with one or more of the shoulders Hi. This property of the fibrous sheet materials, also permits the removal and reinsertion of the fasteners a substantial number of times without damaging the slot to such an extent that the .there has been provided in combination with the fastener, washers which can be threaded onto the fastener above the backing member and, by engagement with the projections, relatively secure One such securing means is shown in Figs. 4 and 5 in the form of a disc 2I which is preferably made of a heavy or dense fibrous or other suitable material and which has a slot 22 therein, the slot having substantially In the modification referred to, a barb 4 the prongs. After a sheet 23 has been mounted on the fastener by inserting the fastener through a hole 24 provided therein for that purpose and has been moved against the head of the fastener, the disc is threaded onto the fastener and forced past the barbs IS into engagement with the surface of the sheet as illustrated in Fig. 4, the ends of slot 22 then being operably engaged by shoulders I8 of the barbs in the same manner as'are the edges of thej'pie'rced slot in the sheet l9 shown in Fig. 3.

a It will be obvious of course that the washers need not necessarily be slotted prior to mounting thereof onto the fastener. The slot can be formed by..piercing the fibrous disc with the fastener prongs during assembly in the same manner as hereinbefore described in connection with the mounting of sheet [9 onto the fastener as described in connection with Fig. 3.

In Figs. 6 and '7 there is shown a modification of the invention in which the projections 25 of the fastener arestruck sidewise from the edges of the prongs l2 and are adapted, for example, to engage the side edges of slot 22 provided in disc 2i when a washer of that type is employed in connection therewith.

While washers of fibrous material are preferred both from the standpoint of cost and ease of manipulation, the invention is not restricted thereto. 'Fig. 8 discloses an alternative form of washer 39 for use in connection with either of the illustrated fasteners. In this instance, the washer may be of thin sheet metal or equivalent flexible and resilient material. To facilitate the sliding of washer 30 over the projections provided on the edges of the fastener prongs, a plurality of slits 3| are provided at the corners of the slot 32 so that, as th'edisc is pressed down'over the projections on the fastener prongs, the tab portions of the disc between the adjacent slits 32 will ride over the surface of the projections It or 25 and thereafter snap back beneath and in operative engagement with the projections.

In Figs. 1-4, the projections have been shown as having a particular shape or form. However, while these fish hook shaped projections are preferred the invention is not restricted thereto. When displaced outwardly, the displaced metal may take the acceptable form of a somewhat rounded protuberance 35 such as that shown in Fig. 9 or in some cases, as is illustrated in Fig. 10, some metal may be displaced on both sides of the groove or notch 31 formed by the tool to form two projections 38 and 39 either or both of which will function in the desired manner particularly in combination with similar projections onthe opposite side or edge of the prong portion. If desired more than one projection 0r barb can be provided on the edge of each prong, and in some instances, as will be pointed out hereinafter, a plurality of projections may be preferred.

In Fig. 11 there is shown another type of fastener comprising a head portion ll in the form of an elongated'inember and having bendable prongs 42 integrally joined to the ends of the head portion. The fastener is normally used with a keeper adapted to be threaded onto the prongs over the sheet material mounted thereon, the keeper usually comprising an elongated substantially rectangular plate having transversely extending openings 45 adjacentits ends. The openings 45 respectively receive the prongs 42 against the keeper plate and secured in the bent 60 and a T-shaped head portion 6|.

fasteners.

position by means of locking members 46 slidably mounted on the keeper plate. A series of projections 41 are provided on the edges of each of the prongs adjacent the head portion of the device.

Fasteners of the type shown in Fig. llare normally used either as file fasteners for clamping sheets of paper together or as binder fasteners in which case sheet of paper are fastened between two covers of pressboard or the like. By providing a series of closely spaced projections instead of a single projection on the side of each prong, the fasteners can be used with backing sheet of different thicknesses.

Figs. 13 and 14 illustrate one way in which this fastener can be secured to the back cover of a binder. In Fig. 13, numeral 50 indicates the back cover of the binder to which is fastened a' binding flap 5| by means of a flexible hinge 52. As such binding flaps are usually purchased with perforations provided therein for receiving the fastener, a washer 53 is employed to secure the fastener to the binding flap, the washer being threaded onto the prongs 42 after the fastener prongs have been thrust through the perforated flap. The washer 53, which is particularly suited for this heavier-duty application, is shown in course, when the apertures in the flap or other backing member are no larger than the width of prongs 42 since in such cases the projections 41 will directly and operatively engage the material of the backing member.

As a direct result of the present invention a less expensive fastening device can be employed with binders such as the one shown in Fig. 13.

Such a device is shown in Fig. 15 as comprising a thin strip of metal bent to form a single prong A plurality of barbs 62 are provided on the prong adjacent the head portion. The procedure for using two of these fasteners with a binder cover is illustrated in Figs. 16 and 17 and comprises inserting the fasteners through apertures in the binding flap 1|, threading a washer 65, which may be any of those described hereinbefore, onto each of the prongs and pressing the washers past some or all of the projections until fiap H is brought into engagement with the heads of the Sheets 66 are then threaded onto the prongs followed by binding'flap 61 of the second or top cover 1|]. A keeper 68, which may be of the type shown in Fig. 11, is finally placed on the prongs, after which the protruding ends of the prongs are bent downwardly into engagement with the keeper and secured by means of the sliding'locking members 69. By this arrangemerit, two such fasteners take the place of a fastener such as that shown in Fig. 11, with a resultant saving in the cost of the elongated head portion 4|.

From the above description it will be seen that the present invention provides an improved fastening device which is simple and economical in construction and operation. When mounted in a backing member, the projections in cooperative engagement with the sheet material, or with the washer provided for that purpose, effectively secure the fastener against accidental displacement but do not prevent the intentional removal thereof if that should be necessary.

Although in the illustrated. embodiments of the invention, small projections have been provided on both sides of the prongs, it is obvious that the intended results can be obtained with a fewer number of projections, all of which may be on only one prong or on only one side or face of the prong portion. It will be understood also that the projections need not take the specific shapes illustrated, provided they are so formed as to operatively engage the edge of the slots in the sheet material or washer mounted thereon sufliciently to prevent the accidental displacement of the fastening device.

Having described the invention in what are considered to be certain preferred embodiments thereof, it is desired that it be understood that the specific details shown and described herein are merely illustrative and that this invention may be carried out by other means.

What I claim is: i

1. A fastening device of the class described comprising a head portion and a pair of normally parallel and contiguous flat prongs, the edge of at least one of said prongs adjacent the head portion having a barb facing said head portion, for retaining against said head portion a sheet of fibrous material pierced by and threaded onto said prongs.

2. A fastening device comprising a head portion, a pair of flat normally contiguous prongs, and barbs extending outwardly from each of the edges of said prongs adjacent the head portion, said barbs being pointed towards said head portion for removably holding a sheet of fibrous material pierced by and threaded onto said prongs in contact with said head portion.

JAY D. CRARY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 119,604 Hanna Oct. 3, 1871 321,864 Taylor July '7, 1885 322,923 Gingras July 28, 1885 759,400 Sibley May 10, 1904 1,072,483 Miller Sept. 9, 1913 1,146,231 Arant July 13, 1915 1,425,384 Kelly Aug. 8, 1922 2,328,416 Blizard et al. Aug. 31, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 198,694 Switzerland Dec. 1, 1938 199,989 Switzerland Dec. 1, 1938 

